Born into a nation of mighty Emperor Penguins, the tiny Mumble seemed just like any other penguin at birth. However, his father accidentally dropped him during incubation, and as a result Mumble isn’t like the rest of his species. All of the other penguins can sing a Heartsong to attract a mate, but unfortunately our hero can’t sing to save his life. Mumble’s dancing ways are frowned upon by the rest of society so he doesn’t fit in at all. Although it’s not always fair to judge every game based on a movie, Happy Feet on the Wii is a prime example of a corporation milking a franchise.
  
We’re Not in Hollywood Anymore
The Warner Brothers production came across as a technically impressive movie in theaters, but this is hardly the case when playing the game. Even though the Wii isn’t always about having state-of-the-art visuals, it still looks as if Happy Feet falls way below the standard. Character models are bland and the animations are choppy, there are rough edges no matter where you turn, and it’s near impossible to complete any mission without noticing a serious amount of clipping. Instead of being bright and alluring, the world carries a dull atmosphere that isn’t inviting by any means. Aside from the fact that the in-game characters resemble their movie counterparts, there isn’t a whole lot to praise here.


The sound is at least somewhat commendable because of the quality voice actors, but even here Happy Feet is not without its faults. Probably this game’s best, and only, selling point is its personality, and surprisingly enough the characters do seem to have some spunk. Including favorites like the extraordinary singer Gloria and all of Mumble’s amigos, it’s hard to have anything negative to say about the voice work. During missions characters will speak to liven things up, but the developers had to ruin the one good thing in this game by repeating phrases way too much. The commentary is welcome for the first thirty or seconds or so, but after that the repetitiveness will get to you. The soundtrack, which is crucial to the DDR-style gameplay segments, is identical to that of the movie. The songs certainly appeal to the younger audience, and even older gamers can get an occasional kick from some of the tracks. For the most part, it’s disappointing to see that this game doesn’t carry as much charisma as the movie.


These Feet aren’t Happy
Just because a game uses an innovative controller doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be any fun at all, and if you don’t believe this then you obviously haven’t played Happy Feet yet. The entire game consists of three basic mission types; downhill sledding, underwater swimming, and even a dancing mode. Players can earn gold, silver, or bronze medals based on their performance in each level, and there’s even some incentive to perform well if you want to purchase some unlockables. Sadly, the game types get old incredibly fast, making this game dull for even the most easily entertained.

The Dance Dance Revolution community raised an eyebrow when they heard that Happy Feet would feature the same arrow smashing goodness that they’ve grown to love, and seeing as how the Wii does have motion sensor technology people were anxiously awaiting to find out how the developers would play this out. If you were planning on buying this game because you can’t get enough DDR, then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Basically, all you have to do is flick the remote in the direction of the arrows as they reach the top of the screen. Even the hardest difficulty setting won’t pose any challenge, and your only real obstacle is making sure that your flicks register. If you ever have to the same direction twice in a row it can be especially tough to make sure the remote works properly, and sometimes you can get misses for no apparent reason at all. To add insult to injury, the songs drag out for several minutes each, making it easy to get bored fast.

The downhill racing mode comes with a few variations to help diversify things, but again the levels are too dragged out and lack excitement. Sometimes you need to race against another penguin, or you might have to collect enough objects before you reach a certain destination. No matter what your goal is, the process is too simple and drab for anybody to take a liking to. Tilting the remote to either side allows you to steer, and your only way to gain speed is to skid over ice patches. Pressing ‘1’ allows you to jump in the air, and from here you can twist the remote to perform tricks and gain a marginal boost, and again it’s hard to get your tricks to register. From time to time you’ll hit speed boosts that can launch you into alternate routes, and for a few brief shining moments you can see that there was definitely some potential here, but sadly these moments are far and few apart.


The last type of missions take place under water, and you shouldn’t expect much of a change here. Mumble moves forward and follows a predetermined course automatically, allowing the player to move him both up and down as well as left and right. Crossing streams of air bubbles will refill your breath meter, and collecting three boost power-ups in a row will move you along faster for a bit. Again, variations can have you collect certain objects, pass through enough checkpoints, and sometimes you’ll even need to outrun a sea predator. The swimming missions suffer from the same boredom and lack of challenge as the other modes, and these levels are also hurt by tough controls. Even if an object is directly in front of you, the poor camera angle makes it hard to tell if you’re actually going to hit something or not. It’s hard to get Mumble to go exactly where you want to anyways because the controls are oversensitive, and overall this mode proves to be more frustrating than anything else. 
    
A Happy Family
The single player campaign tires out fast, so a few multiplayer modes were included to add some longevity to this title. The first type of two-player game consists of belly-sledding, in which one gamer steers Mumble down the hill while the other player swings their remote in sync with scrolling arrows. Rather than having a head-to-head option, gamers can do completely unrelated tasks to gain points. Multiplayer dancing is just like the single player, except now two people can go at the same time. The last mode here takes place underwater, and players compete against each other to collect the most objects. All of these modes are plagued with the same issues as before, and even the competitive collecting doesn’t feel like a competition at all. It would’ve been great to see a slew of minigames, but sadly we’re just left with an extension of the single player game.


Conclusion
Happy Feet on the Wii is not a satisfactory game by any standards. Unless you’re a diehard fan of the movie or have an undesirable fetish for penguins, you should stay away from this game at all costs. It’s a shame to see that a launch title could go so wrong, but Happy Feet feels too dull to offer even a miniscule amount of entertainment.

Gameplay	7/20
Graphics	7/20
Sound	10/20
Value	8/20
Preference	8/20
Overall	40/100